Allistar1801
Explorer
Recently I was asked by my DM if I would like to try playing in an evil campaign (we're starting from level 6). Sure why not, this means I can finally play a necromancer, I think to myself. Upon looking at the spell options and different paths of play I get a bit stumped.
Spell selections
I'm not too sure, so I just went with my usual wizard suite but this time with some more necromancy
1st) Detect Magic, Identify, Comprehend Languages, Mage Armor, Shield, Sleep, Find Familiar, and 1 extra one I couldn't decide on. I don't think there are any really good options though, so its a filler
2nd) Misty Step, Mirror, Image, Flaming Sphere, and Ray of Enfeeblement.
3rd) Animate Dead (because necromancer), Counterspell, Thunder Step, Haste, Fireball, and Leomund's Tiny Hut (we were allowed to start with an uncommon magic item and I decided to take a scroll and scribe it into my spellbook)
Strategies
The way I see it, I could blow all of my level 3 slots and get a quite good investment. A combination of 6 body blockers and damage dealers seems pretty good to me. Considering every zed is an extra 28 HP I just put in front of myself, or maybe moved into a flanking position for some of my other buddies (doubt it with 20 speed, but a man can dream). At the very least they can run up and use the help action/act as ADS for the enemies. In any case if you don't want to be touched just make a line of 168 HP (that has the potential to keep going past it's mileage) in front of you and I guarantee the enemy fighters will have a great time trying to stab their way to you. Another thing to consider is that every skeleton is a ranged fighter along the likes of myself that have a pretty good bonus to hit and they add a respectable extra 1d6+5 damage each to your potential DPR. If all of them are skeletons you have the potential to 6d6+30 damage in 1 round. Realistically however the average is somewhere between 2 and 3 hits worth of damage, but that's still a nice piece of hurt when it's happening turn after turn. (don't worry, If I decide to do this we have a system ready to go that will keep my horde from becoming an inconvenient hold up during combat... and I guess we could just off them or put them in a bag of holding when we're in a city or something)
Alternatively I could be responsible and keep 2 slots open for counterspells, or heck maybe cast haste on a buddy. Buffs start getting a bit better around this time as well, and so does battlefield control. I suppose one thing that can be said is that minions are a form of battlefield control and I can kind of get that, but It's not the same as dropping a sleet storm and watching an entire section of map get marked as a nope zone. I've always been a fan of the support class and buffing allies while controlling the enemy boardstate, but I kind of want to give the whole undead army thing a shot
Potential Changes- (most of which involve being in cities and not being able to have a horde)
I'll probably cut flaming sphere for something else since my bonus action will probably be spent controlling the horde, but I think it would be a pretty useful bonus action ability for when I dont have my horde. I'm not super sure about thunder step, not only because I'm thinking about sacking all of my spell slots for undead, but also because of how versatile it may or may not be when I didn't have the horde (It's misty step with an upside and it can get a buddy out of jail with you, maybe even a melee one if you decide to run up and save them---- but we have misty step for this exact reason)
I dunno, rate my build, tell me if I'm wrong, and give your own suggestions.
Spell selections
I'm not too sure, so I just went with my usual wizard suite but this time with some more necromancy
1st) Detect Magic, Identify, Comprehend Languages, Mage Armor, Shield, Sleep, Find Familiar, and 1 extra one I couldn't decide on. I don't think there are any really good options though, so its a filler
2nd) Misty Step, Mirror, Image, Flaming Sphere, and Ray of Enfeeblement.
3rd) Animate Dead (because necromancer), Counterspell, Thunder Step, Haste, Fireball, and Leomund's Tiny Hut (we were allowed to start with an uncommon magic item and I decided to take a scroll and scribe it into my spellbook)
Strategies
The way I see it, I could blow all of my level 3 slots and get a quite good investment. A combination of 6 body blockers and damage dealers seems pretty good to me. Considering every zed is an extra 28 HP I just put in front of myself, or maybe moved into a flanking position for some of my other buddies (doubt it with 20 speed, but a man can dream). At the very least they can run up and use the help action/act as ADS for the enemies. In any case if you don't want to be touched just make a line of 168 HP (that has the potential to keep going past it's mileage) in front of you and I guarantee the enemy fighters will have a great time trying to stab their way to you. Another thing to consider is that every skeleton is a ranged fighter along the likes of myself that have a pretty good bonus to hit and they add a respectable extra 1d6+5 damage each to your potential DPR. If all of them are skeletons you have the potential to 6d6+30 damage in 1 round. Realistically however the average is somewhere between 2 and 3 hits worth of damage, but that's still a nice piece of hurt when it's happening turn after turn. (don't worry, If I decide to do this we have a system ready to go that will keep my horde from becoming an inconvenient hold up during combat... and I guess we could just off them or put them in a bag of holding when we're in a city or something)
Alternatively I could be responsible and keep 2 slots open for counterspells, or heck maybe cast haste on a buddy. Buffs start getting a bit better around this time as well, and so does battlefield control. I suppose one thing that can be said is that minions are a form of battlefield control and I can kind of get that, but It's not the same as dropping a sleet storm and watching an entire section of map get marked as a nope zone. I've always been a fan of the support class and buffing allies while controlling the enemy boardstate, but I kind of want to give the whole undead army thing a shot
Potential Changes- (most of which involve being in cities and not being able to have a horde)
I'll probably cut flaming sphere for something else since my bonus action will probably be spent controlling the horde, but I think it would be a pretty useful bonus action ability for when I dont have my horde. I'm not super sure about thunder step, not only because I'm thinking about sacking all of my spell slots for undead, but also because of how versatile it may or may not be when I didn't have the horde (It's misty step with an upside and it can get a buddy out of jail with you, maybe even a melee one if you decide to run up and save them---- but we have misty step for this exact reason)
I dunno, rate my build, tell me if I'm wrong, and give your own suggestions.